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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today's post is a little different than what I've been posting recently. Every now and then my nails crave a nice nude polish and a break from the colorful designs I normally gravitate to. I'm loving the look I came up with and hope that you all do, too!

My mani began with a base of Essie Feed Me followed by two coats of Sugar Daddy. Oh, Sugar Daddy, how I love thee! This polish in french nude perfection. It applied so nicely and it gave my nails a gorgeous sheer coat of a tiny bit of color. I love that this polish hid a little bit of yellowing on my nails. If I ever had to pick the perfect base for a french mani this is definitely it!

The design I picked for this mani is so intricate and beautiful. I chose to use Pueen image plate PUEEN18 and got it on my nails with Konad Special Stamping polish in black. The intricacy of this design and how the black pops off of the nude base made for such a lovely combination. It looked fancy yet modern. This mani was complete with a coat of Essie Good To Go topcoat.

Would you wear this mani? What do you think of nude/sheer polishes? I know alot of girls, including myself, absolutely live for color on their nails. Every now and then it is nice to have a little palette cleanser though. I'm loving these image plates by Pueen as well. They are all etched very nicely and the designs are fabulous and unique! Pueen currently offers three sets of plates, along with a few random plates, that can be purchasedhere if you are interested. International lovelies can place there order for these plates here. As always, I hope you all liked this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

Monday, May 20, 2013

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today I have a swatch post to share with you. I was fortunate enough to win a flash giveaway on Instagram hosted by Marisa of Polish Obsession and finally got around to swatching the beautiful prize she sent my way. I've never heard of The Polish Bar before seeing this giveaway and was really excited to try a new (to me) indie!

My manicure began with a base coat of Essie Feed Me. I applied three thin coats of Daydream. Daydream is a light pink crelly (creme/jelly) full of medium and large fuchsia, purple and blue glitter along with fine gold glitter. This polish was easy to apply and I didn't have to play with glitter placement which was nice. I do wish that it was just a tad bit more jelly than creme. Overall, I thought this was so much fun to look at!

Daydream can be purchased on Etsy at The Polish Bar's shop (click to be directed there) & retail at $8.50 for a full size bottle. Janice offers a variety of polishes that will fulfill your wildest glitter dreams! I am really loving all that indie polish shops have to offer as of lately and cannot wait to share more with you in the upcoming weeks. As always, I hope you all liked this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

White Haute NailsAre you dreaming of this graphic looking nail for yourself? The secret is in the application.

With
a perfect white nail polish, Zoya Purity, in hand we reached out to
celebrity, editorial manicurist Sunshine Outing for her insider
application
secrets.

To start, Outing prefers a perfectly smooth surface created by using a
ridge filling base coat with a milk base such as, Zoya Get Even… “Let it
dry completely” before starting your color application. When it comes
to white or pastel full coverage color, the
biggest secret is to be patient and not to “go back in and overwork
it”. Start with a thin first coat and don’t worry about streaks, “just
get it on”. The second coat should be slightly thicker and cover the
entire nail. Once the second coat is on, if any
streaks or imperfections are showing, a “very, very thin” final layer
of polish can be added. Allow color to briefly dry and then follow
immediately with a protective top coat. The top coat will not only apply
a glossy finish but also assist in bonding the
layers of nail polish together for that professionally manicured nail
look. After the initial application, Outing recommends a lightly applied daily dose of topcoat for chip-free, glossy perfection.

INSIDER PRO MANICURE TIP:
For
a slender looking nail, manicurist Sunshine Outing suggests not
covering all the way to the sides as way to create nails that look
slender and sleek.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today I have another review and a super cute mani to share with you! For today's mani you will see that I "recycled" part of yesterday's manicure. As I mentioned yesterday, I was sent another item to review from BornPrettyStore, the RuiZ03 stamping plate:

I've always wanted to do a Mickey and Minnie Mouse manicure after seeing Holy Manicures masterpiece a good while ago. Isn't that adorable?! I wanted to do a twist on the normal red/black/white Minnie mani that you normally think of. I was inspired by this picture:

As stated above, I recycled part of yesterday's mani, my ring finger. I removed polish from the rest of my nails and proceeded to begin with a base of Essie Feed Me. I applied two coats of Bettina Vintage to my pinky and middle fingers, 3 coats of Zoya Darcy to my index and 3 coats of L'Oreal Miss Pixie on my thumb. Miss Pixie was a gift from the lovely Keisha of refinedandpolished.com and is part of the Limited Edition Miss Candy collection which includes 8 jellies! Oh, I can't even tell you how excited I was to see that in a very sweet and thoughtful package from her.

The stamping was done with Konad Special Stamping Polish in white along with the images found on stamping plate RuiZ03. I tested these images on paper before applying them to my nails. Each image on the plate is etched perfectly and I had no issues transferring them to my nail art stamper and on to my nails.

I used a makeup sponge and Shimmer Julia on my middle finger. On my thumb I applied one coat of OPI's Pirouette My Whistle followed by another coat of Miss Pixie. I completed my mani with a coat of Essie Good To Go.

This cobalt blue jelly that is Miss Pixie is to die for!

Overall, I really really adore this manicure! It makes me want to start planning a trip to Disney with the kids. I love that it's not your traditional Minnie Mouse colors and the 3D bow went perfectly with my inspiration photo. The RuiZ03 plate from BornPrettyStore is made perfectly and I would definitely recommend it to anybody who isn't great at freehand like myself. Remember that if you do purchase this plate, you can receive 10% off your total order at BornPrettyStore by using the unique code on the right of my blog! As always, I hope you all liked this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today's post is a review for the 3D Polka Dot Bow from BornPrettyStore. I have been wanting to try a 3D accent nail for a while now but have never gotten around to getting a set. When BPS contacted me to review for them I was really excited! I have long been a customer of their site and always check out the new things they have to offer.

Front of 3D bow packaging

Back of 3D bow packaging

I decided to go with a skittlette to review these since there were only 9 of them and I want to use these again for another mani I have planned. I began with a base of Essie Feed Me followed by a coat of Cult Nails Tempest on my ring, middle, and thumb nails and two coats of Bettina Vintage on my pinky, index, & thumb nails.

After applying a coat of Essie Good To Go to my ring finger, I carefully picked up the 3D polka dot bow with tweezers and applied it to my nail. The packaging says to use glue to adhere it but since these are my natural nails I didn't want to chance ruining them with glue. However, if you wear acrylic or gel enhancements or overlays, glue would be perfect to adhere your 3D bow.

I proceeded to use a variety of stamps for my skittlette once the bow was adhered and the top coat dried. For the white stamping I used Konad Special Stamping polish in white. The blue stamping is Bettina Vintage. On my pinky is Konad M79, middle is Konad M71, & Cheeky CH11 is on my index finger.

Overall, I really like these bows. I was hesitant to try 3D art because I thought that they would fall off easily or snag on everything. I'm typing up this post 4 hours after completing this mani and the bow is still in tact and hasn't gotten caught on anything. I love the polka dots on these, so cute!

The kind people at BornPrettyStore were nice enough to share a unique code with me just for my followers. You guys can purchase these or any other item at BornPrettyStore.com and receive 10% off your total order using the code UKL91 (click on the coupon code on the right to go directly to their site)! BornPrettyStore always offers FREE worldwide shipping and usually takes 3-5 weeks for your items to arrive. I can't wait to show you guys the other item I have to review from BPS! As always, I hope you all liked this post my dear Lacquer Luvers and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!